O-N-E

Little Buddy, you are O-N-E. My oh my, where does the time go?

You've made quite the progress this month by...

• dropping something and saying "uh-oh"
• waving and saying "bye-bye"
• saying "duck duck," while feeding our feathered friends
• swapping out your "army crawl" for the good 'ole fashioned "diaper commercial crawl"
• pulling up
• clapping your sweet little hands, usually when we say "yay!"
• saying lots of other words, like "ma-ma," "da-da," "night-night," "uh-uh" for a no no, and "nana" for banana...I am sure there are others, but that's all I can think of now.
• signing to us...drink, eat, more, and all done.
• you also "pat your mama," which I love
• and you give the sweetest kisses ever, with your wide-open baby bird like mouth

As for sleeping, you still take two naps, at 10 and 2. They are usually about an hour and a half each. At nighttime, you sleep from 7 pm to 7 am. yay! Nursings are at 7 am, 2 pm, and 7 pm. Your morning nursing is the next to go.

We've moved onto size 4 diapers and 18 month clothes. You are growing like a weed.

You eat all three meals with us now. I give you a sippy cup of milk when you wake up from your afternoon nap, to hold you over til dinner. You mastered the "non-pliable" sippy cup spout on your birthday, which I am so thankful for. Those nuby-like spouts leak everywhere!

Just before your birthday, you started cutting your top, center teeth. Your right one starting coming in first, but it's pair wasn't too far behind. Both of your little tooth buds are precious.

You can stand up in your crib now, which is just delightful. I really love it when you stand up, throw your paci over, and cry. just kidding. Bath time is still your favorite. You've got the mega-splashing down.

You've had 3 haircuts now, all done by me. I just cut the front though, I wouldn't dare touch the back.

I won't touch the back, because I just love your curls. And your blue eyes.

Your big sister loves you too.

She always kisses you goodnight.

And, y'all have so much fun together.

I am so thankful for you Carson. Your daddy is thankful for you too. He calls you sunshine, and I like that. You have a slew of other nicknames too....buddy, bro, bro-bro.

Your first year was a joy. pure joy.

We love you Sunshine! a whole. whole. lot. Could you please stay little forever?

she gets it.

she gets that just one year ago, he was a tiny, tiny baby. she asked me if she could hold him, just like she used to, and so i let her.

remember?

she remembers when he was born. and, then she tells me, "it's just not the same, Mom. he grew." then, she looks at me with her big, brown eyes, and tells me that she doesn't want him to grow anymore. that she wants him to stay a baby. my eyes teared up, and hers did too. four's kinda young to be figuring all of this out, don't ya think?

well, it was his birthday. and to say that i can't believe it, would be quite the understatement. we had a pretty laid back day. the gym. a playdate for sister. strawberry cupcakes with lunch.

and then, we headed here. o holy night.

and ate this. disgusting

and bought these.

all on carson's birthday. oh my.

emma was thrilled. she's been begging to go, and i'll admit that both rob and i felt kinda funny being there. i guess it's like a parenthood rite of passage?

she had a blast.

and still loves all things horses.

and the helicopter was a favorite too.

and then, i made her play *dance dance revolution* with me. classic.

it wasn't exactly what i pictured for buddy's first birthday, but then i realized that he didn't care. and that his super special party was just around the corner.

He got a bath first.

And, then we let him hang out with us. A bath first, because if you know me at all, you know I'm a germ freak. So, stuffed animal+kids+different home every weekend=gross in my book. We started by making homemade strawberry cupcakes for Emma's playdate/Carson's real birthday.

I'm talking about Patch. He's the "mascot," if you will, for Emma's preschool class, and it was her turn to bring him home. She was so, so excited. We wrote in the journal and the whole bit. I really thought Emma was going to cry when we had to send him back to school. She's funny like that.

So, Emma had a new friend for the weekend, and Carson, well, he's pulling up now. yikes!

And, Emma's little seeds from her Mama C. are growing like weeds. Seeds and weeds, they rhyme. And yes, we are still rhyming on an hourly basis.

I couldn't help but remember that on this day one year ago, we were all super anxious. and super scared. and just hoping for the best. And, then, one year later, we are baking cupcakes. Life's so unpredictable, isn't it?

Just the Four of Us

We invited these two along for our Valentine's Day festivities.

Our dinner was burgers and fries...so much irony in the night. Never have we chosen burgers for our Valentine's Day dinner, and I am pretty sure it's usually a date night without the kiddos. We planned to make up for our date night on the following weekend...and beat the crowds :)

Emma toasted us with her "cheers."

And, we enjoyed the company of each other and all of the little ducks visiting.

Miss Emma....She's always willing to help out. She's a sweet girl.

And, she loves her daddy.

Towards the end, it was getting a little late for our little one.

He was so ready for bath and bed.

I did manage to sneak in a family photo. Although, now looking at the photo, I'm thinking, "poor Carson." He looks so, so sad.

I ended my Valentine's night with one of the sweetest kisses ever. He's just so sweet.

Burgers on Valentine's with the kiddos just might be a new tradition. After all, they are who we love the most, right?

on heart day eve

we headed out to our favorite park to enjoy the weather.

emma loves a park.

and carson does too.

she offered to push her brother, but got smacked in the nose by the swing...

she was okay and moved on to feed the ducks.

my two favorite boys...

i love them both.

it's hard to believe that this time last year, this little one was still in my belly.

my how the time flies.

he's been a wonderful addition to our family.

i thought it was cute that their shirts matched :)

miss emma and her chapped lips...

and me with my little buddy. it was a fun family day.